Improvement Report

The great strength of IT is its ability to organise tremendous amounts of information and make that easily accessible. Yet many organisations suffer information overload and data chaos. This is often because file structures on network servers are badly organised.

The end result is a system that becomes slow and unwieldy, bogged down by data files that may be outdated and which clutter up the system. Sometimes, even when files are stored in an agreed way, there is duplication of work as people recreate files they can't find on the network server.

The consequences can be serious: the organisation's knowledge base begins to decay and management of information breaks down.

One way forward is to agree a file system that naturally signposts people to data, based on the way you label folders and through use of good indexes. Also, have data cleansing procedures in place that periodically remove information which is out of date.

Does you organisation have an Intranet? If not, this may be worth looking at. Your internal networks could be brought together as one in-house website hosting all the information you produce and manage. Each department could have its own web page and even storage of confidential and sensitive information is not a problem through use of passwords.

Your Intranet could also integrate communications functions. You could, for instance, have dedicated areas for memos, notice boards, phone and e-mail listings, staff surveys and discussions. In this way you are using technology to more effectively manage your organisation's knowledge, to improve communications and actively involve your people.

And produce a user guide, so new starters especially, are aware of how your network operates. Hold training sessions and make your Intranet relevant to your people.

And then ... you can all get on with what you're meant to be doing!